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Joe and Mike,

This stuff takes me back to my story earlier about Keith Groff and his quote, "I was taught by Dominican nuns."

I am also reminded of a similar story from a friend who taught freshman engineering studetns at Ohio State. He told me that most of the entering freshmen were so poorly prepared in Math that he had to go back and spend about the first 6 weeks reviewing high school algebra. I dare say Sister Norbertine would not have left us wanting in that subject either.

05/16/23 09:59 PM

#12643

Life's Disappointments

Even the average sports fan will be aware that we are entering the season for NFL "roookie training camp". Right now, across the country, NFL teams are holding early drills to get a first look at their new class of rookies. Out of these early sessions, there will be some great players that emerge. And there will also be some disappointments - guys who's hopes for an NFL carreer end here.

I was just recalling one such guy - one of my favorites from Ohio State back in our high school days. He became the final cut at the Cleveland Browns training camp in (I think?)1962. He was trying out as a wide reciever, and so was his training camp roommate - both rookies.

But the Browns kept his roommate because he was not only a fine Wide Receiver, but also great punter. His name was Garry Collins (from Maryland if memory serves) and he went on to become a geat Wide Reciver AND a great Punter.

So the dream of becoming a Cleveland Brown ended for this Buckeye.

Too bad.

I mean, too bad for the Browns.

Hellooo Boston Celtics!!!

05/17/23 07:26 AM

#12644

David, Sister Norbertine (changed her name to Gertrude) was the best math teacheI I ever had and math was not my best subject or interest. Thanks for bringing her name up - good memories. i remember how awful JFK's death hit her.

05/17/23 07:47 AM

#12645

(raises hand) saint norbert was a german nobleman who was struck by a bolt of lightening. He survived intact. I doubt we could say the same for his shorts. He founded the norbertine order. It would have been cool if he had them all have little lightening bolt insignias as their trademark. better still, tatoos.

05/17/23 09:01 AM

#12646

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

MM, thanks for posting the photo of the Clintonville house (a street over from ours on Clinton Heights Av). It has brought back memories to various Kelley siblings. I must admit that they were a little surprised to think that I might be suscribed to the Clintonville Spotlight!

My brother Steve (Class of ´61) remembers hanging out with Tim Pond there where they would actually shoot hoops in the turret (the hoop was attached to the wall). My sister Linda remembers frequent visits many years later with her friend Molly Echenrode.

Mark, thanks for sharing your song dedicated to your mother. I think we can all identify with a lot of the sentiments you expressed.

Mike, sorry that you were "hit" with some of the AI consequences so early on. It looks like we are just getting started.

05/17/23 10:49 AM

#12647

Janie Albright (Blank)

Joe, following up on Mike's advice on editing a post you've already submitted, if you don't see the edit or delete choices you aren't logged on. Once you are logged on you can go to your post and click on edit button. If you are just responding to the email notification that there are new posts you can read them but you might not be logged on and you won't see those choices.

05/17/23 07:38 PM

#12648

Joe,

I was not aware that Sister Norbertine had changed her name. What a fun memory she was!

I must admit, I think she was an outstanding Algebra teacher, but oh, what a funny character! Her animated personality, that serious lisp, and her expressions, were a source of much commentary back in the day. One of my favorites was when she caught someone not paying attention she would roll her head over the sky and say, "Come day, go day, God send Sunday".

I was somehow placed in the faster math classes with the likes of the Hodges, Yarborough, Roach crowd (God only knows why). Charlie Kaps was also in those classes with us and he and I were contsantly interrupting her with questions - I mean maybe six or eight times a day. She would stop, roll her eyes in dusgust, and call on us. One time when she had just about had her fill of my questions she said, "Michael" (she always called me Michael) "you are sccchhhlow to grassssspp. But once you have it, you never forget it."

And who could forget her "rosary repair business". She kept that tiny pair of needle nosed pliers, and her supply of links and beads on her waist belt - ready for service at all times.

Speaking of her name, I just now put two and two together - I think Steve Hodges religious order is the Norbertine Fathers

05/18/23 07:25 AM

#12649

David, I am not sure when she actually changed her name - sometime after Vatican II. I forgot the lisp and the clicking dentures which obviously did not fit well. She had a picture of JFK right behind her desk next to the windows and we very upset when he died. I was also placed with the smart classmates (Hodges, Reid, etc.), but I learned my Algebra 1. Unfortunately, I was then placed with the smart ones again for Geometry which i found difficult. I really was over my head in Algebra 2 and Trig with Sister Mary Malcom (who changed her name later to Loreen (Sp?) and I scraped by only. She never smiled. When it came to Calculus and Physics in my senior year, I decided not to take those courses. As I remember I only got Cs with Algebra 2 and Trig so why would I not get Cs or even Ds in those senior courses. I went to Sr. Gertrude's funeral which was an eye-opener. Gertrude had thought of suicide at one point and didn't think she would go to heaven. Thank God, the sister in charge when Gertrude was in Mohan Hall (the sisters nursing home), helped her to see that she would go to heaven. joe

05/18/23 07:30 AM

#12650

I also remember the story (although I was not in the class when it happened) that her dentures fell out into her hands. That would have been funny and sad at the same time. Does anyone remember Sister ? in Homeroom11? I can't remember her name, but she was very old. I heard that she watered her plastic flowers on the window ledge every morning. One day, someone tied very thin string to the flowers and as she watered them, the 'grew.' Wonder if that story is true. Also Sister Hillary who taught math, I think) that freshman year. Someone put a dead fish in her drawer which she later found. Is that story true also?

05/18/23 11:06 AM

#12651

Bill Reid

Ok, it's time for me to go to public confession, after all these years. I was the one Joe Gentilini refers to in his post. I sat near the window in Sister Francesca's homeroom #111. We all knew she watered her plastic flowers, which sat in a flowerpot on the window ledge. So one day I tied a thread to the plastic flowers, looped the thread over the handle that opened the windows (no air conditioning back then, I guess) and held the thread under my seat. When Sister Francesca came over to water her flowers, I tugged on the string and the flowers popped up an inch or so. She stopped, had a look of wonder on her face, and then watered them again. I again pulled on the thread and the flowers "grew" another inch. She stopped again with a quizzical look on her face, and then said, "Well, it's about time they grew!". Needless to say, muffled laughter reigned in the room. I've not admitted to doing this for many years but Joe's posting prompts me to come clean about my misbehavior. Poor Sister Francesca! She gave us lots to laugh about; what unruly teenagers we were back then! or, maybe, just me!!!

05/18/23 11:16 AM

#12652

I pity you, Bill. You're gonna be doing some hard time in purgatory for that.

05/18/23 12:22 PM

#12653

James Hamilton, M. D.

The Power of Nature

Forty-three years ago this morning Mt. Saint Helens erupted. Late that afternoon when I left work my car was enshrouded in a fine silver-gray powder of volcanic ash, 1320 miles from that blast.

Jim

05/18/23 02:09 PM

#12654

Bill,

I can just hear "Geraldine" (Flip Wilson) offering the same excuse you would have used - "da debil made me do dat" .

05/18/23 05:41 PM

#12655

Okay, Bill, you are absolved but what type of penance should you do for such a horrible thing to do to an old woman who probably had difficulty knowing reality from fantasy? She will be waiting for you in heaven expecting a real apology! HA!

05/18/23 09:41 PM

#12656

John Maxwell

Dr. James H.
Mt. St. Helens was a pretty big bang
And finding a little volcanic dust on your car is a wonder. But when Yellowstone erupts, one may have to get an earthmover to get the dust off the car. Make no mistake it will happen as seismologists have been monitoring seismic activity for quite a few years, with great expectations. Experts say the debris field will cover over sixty percent of No. America. There is one thing one can do when it happens. When you feel the explosion find a comfortable position, then bend over and kiss your butt good-bye. Even if you are in Europe, Asia or Africa, you cannot escape the aftermath. Floods, fires, earthquakes and radical climate shifts. We could get lucky and die before it happens, because for the living, living will be difficult. We all know what its like living on a VHE planet, (Very Highly Explosive planet).
Well I gotta get back to watching a documentary on the Roswell ET crash.

05/18/23 11:16 PM

#12657

"Kirk,,, out"

05/19/23 12:25 AM

#12658

James Hamilton, M. D.

John M.,

I thought about mentioning Yellowstone in my post as I have followed much of the info on that massive volcanic area. But since Mt. St. Helens actually did erupt I figured that was enough of a scare - and perhaps a warning - of cataclysmic events that will happen sometime in the future. Just thinking about such an event is truly mind boggling and would likely create a long, major nuclear-like night that would drastically change ALL life on earth. Maybe even the Biblical end? Or perhaps humans, like after the dinosaurs demise, will allow other species which could survive, to start a new evolutionary trend and earth will go on.

Jim

05/19/23 10:13 AM

#12659

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Yeah I'm gonna bend the rules a bit and put something political on this side. Because it's funny as well as being scary as hell.

This book is now banned in my state.

As part of our guv's presidential campaign he kicked off a program to go through all the textbooks in Florida Public Schools to wean them of anything that even hints at alternative lifestyles.

Guess that includes penguins.

And no I am not making this up. Here is the title of the book and a description from the publisher's fb page:

And Tango Makes Three

The heartwarming true story of two penguins who create a nontraditional family is now available in a sturdy board book edition.

At the penguin house at the Central Park Zoo, two penguins named Roy and Silo were a little bit different from the others. But their desire for a family was the same. And with the help of a kindly zookeeper, Roy and Silo got the chance to welcome a baby penguin of their very own.

In time for the tenth anniversary of And Tango Makes Three, this Classic Board Book edition is the perfect size for small hands.

05/19/23 01:31 PM

#12660

A reply to Mike's recent post will be forthcoming on the User Forum.

05/19/23 02:15 PM

#12661

Crap. Thought I could get away with it.

But in all seriousness this a significant issue in the current culture wars that calls for a lot of thought on issues that are far more subtle than others - and I want to say mysterious - when it comes to young people, and I mean really young people, and sexuality.

But I will say no more - at least not over here, and perhaps not even over there. It's a fundamental, deep-rooted question. I'm familiar with it based on conversations I've had with parents and teachers, but I would love to explore whatever science has to say about it for my own satisfaction. Which I may well do. At this point I truly believe that a child's sexual orientation is innate, from birth, and it does not always match up to the package they happen to be born with.

I have made so many gay friends and met so many extremely hard working and compassionate public-school teachers, now caught in the culture-wars crossfire, since I moved to Florida, and I cherish them. I'd rather just do that. I'm thinking they need the support. That, I know, will make a difference. This? Doubtful. Once I see the word "grooming" I'm gone.

Swear to God I'm thinking of getting back into yoga. These times are so damn upsetting.

05/19/23 04:46 PM

#12662

Okay Michael, you started the political comments and so I will chime in. I agree with your sentiments about what is happening in Florida and across the country. Banning books, telling parents what medical treatments they cannot arrange for their children or for themselves, etc., come right out of what Hitler started under the Nazis. It is the beginning of fascism. For a party that says it has wants less government intrusion in our lives, it obviously does not believe that anymore. A few years ago your governor told parents that they could refuse to go along with any requirement for their children to wear masks and that it was not the government's business. Now he says the government has every right to dictate what parents or persons can read or do for their themselves or children. This country is going into a dangerous times. joe

05/19/23 05:43 PM

#12663

We're not supposed to talk about grownup stuff on this side, Joe.

Now I've gone and got you in trouble too.

Please excuse me everybody. I was just having a fit of pique.

I hate it when that happens.

But seriously, Joe, we are in a dangerous era from the looks of it, but bear in mind one thing: There have been divides on these issues from long, long ago. That's nothing new. What's new is that number one, the Internet gives everybody a voice. That's overall a good thing, but it also mean you see, and I see, and we all see, the expression of lots and lots of conflicting opinions that have been there all along. Then there is number two, which is that the political playbook is different, at least for some politicians, who take extreme stances and rely on them to attract enough support so they can stay in the game. That's a new permutation. Say what you will about Trump but he had the smarts to take advantage of it, and that opened the door for more.

There is a bigger platform and visiblility now for a broader variety of voices, some of which are, to me at least, quite disturbing. The fascinating question is how things will play out in a couple of years. At our age we will be ok. It's the young-uns who'll be battling it out.

Add the issue with the national debt and hell yes it can keep you up nights. Hence the pique.

05/19/23 09:50 PM

#12664

MEA CULPA! joe

05/20/23 12:02 AM

#12665